There is a new revolution in the restaurant business, and it is none other than the use of mobile chat marketing for restaurants. This is because using chat as a form of advertising has been found to be more effective than most of the other traditional forms of advertising available these days. Up to 75% of first-time customers check out menus on smartphones prior to visiting, and 69% order food via mobile devices. Get your marketing messages directly in front of diners.

Here’s How Restaurants Use Text Marketing

Managers are faced with one of the most difficult tasks in running a restaurant business: how to retain a customer and keep them coming back. Keeping your customers happy and satisfied is what will keep them coming back for more. In order to do this, many restaurants use text messaging as a marketing strategy. There are several ways that a restaurant can use text messaging to communicate with their customers. TextWorkz will send messages right from our platform to let a customer know the special offers they have and other special information.

Why Choose SMS Marketing? 

If you are starting a new restaurant, you may think that it is better to limit how you use text messaging as a form of marketing. However, if you already have a number of customers, it might be a good idea to expand your marketing strategies. It is possible to make your customers feel that their interaction with your company has a significant impact on the quality of their experience. That is why even small, independent restaurants should consider using the technology to make customers feel involved.

Target Local Keywords Using SEO

SEO stands for “search engine optimizations.” It’s the process of improving the design, content and usability of your website so that it ranks higher in Google searches. 

We don’t need to tell you how popular Google is, but it may be worth noting that data shows overall restaurant-related searches have grown by double digits in the past two years.

As a restaurant, your goal should be to rank for local searches. For example, “Restaurants on 17th Avenue in Calgary.” Let’s take a quick look at the results for this search:

 

Notice that there are three results at the top. This is where you want to be. Take a minute to do a similar search for your restaurant.

For example, if you run a pizzeria in Atlanta, go ahead and Google “pizzeria Atlanta.” Are you in the top three results? If not, this is how you can use SEO in your pizzeria marketing strategy:

• Make your website easy to navigate on mobile and highlight your menu
• Add a contact page to your website with your name, address, and numberAdd a Click to Call or Click to Text button to your site
• If you have multiple locations, add a map with all of them
• Include reviews from customers on your website
• Claim your restaurant on TripAdvisor, Google My Business, Yelp, Facebook, etc.

​50% of consumers who do a local search on their smartphone visit a store within 24 hours. Take the time to do the quick fixes above, and you should see a boost in your rankings.

Request Reviews from Diners

In the last section, we mentioned that it’s important for local SEO to have reviews from customers. The reason is that oftentimes review sites like Yelp, Facebook, Google and TripAdvisor appear on the first page of search results.

If your restaurant’s profiles on Google, Yelp, Facebook and TripAdvisor are looking sparse, it’s time to start asking for reviews from customers. It isn’t difficult. Happy customers are excited to share about their experience with others. Try the following tactics to get more reviews:

• Add a call to action asking for a review to your table tents, menus, receipts, etc.
• If you have a text message list, send review requests via SMS
• If a customer made an online reservation, send a follow-up email with a link to review sites
• Ask your servers to remind diners to leave a review after they’ve finished their meal

While good reviews are what every restaurant strives for, negative reviews can happen, even with an amazing back-of-house and wait staff. Don’t panic if you get a negative review. 

The best thing you can do is respond to it sincerely, and offer to make things right. Incentivize them to come back and show them how great your restaurant really is.

Current Global Conditions - Create a Contactless Dining or Pickup Experience

COVID-19 has reshaped how restaurants handle orders, with online ordering more important than ever.

While social distancing and lockdowns have accelerated the increasing shift to mobile contactless ordering platforms—it’s likely it will stick even after the pandemic subsides.

In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, a restaurant’s mobile capabilities are more important NOW than ever. 

With the increase in restaurant delivery orders and curbside pick-up, contact-free handoffs and dining relies increasingly on mobile devices. (If you’re wondering how this relates to marketing, an investment in customer experience can grow revenue by 15-25%.)

This doesn’t need to be a major undertaking. Our customer, Souvlaki Authentique automates their curbside pickup process using text messages and finds that “customers appreciate how smooth the process is from start to finish.”

Instead of investing in an expensive curbside pickup software and mobile app, customers text the keyword “pickup” and receive an automated message asking them for their parking spot, car model, and the order’s name.

Regularly Engage with Customers Using Text Messages

All of the strategies we’ve talked about so far help you find new customers, and make your restaurant more appealing to them so they’ll decide to dine with you. 

But what about your current customers? You can’t forget about them.

Text messages help you engage with past diners and encourage them to come back. 

Here’s how it works: first, a customer subscribes to your chat marketing platform by texting in a keyword to your number. 

For example, a restaurant could make their keyword “MyMenu.” All a customer would have to do to sign up for their chat marketing platfor is text “MyMenu” to your specified text number.

39% of restaurants are using SMS marketing Globally. Here are three reasons why: 

1. Texts are effective: 98% of texts are opened and 36% are clicked on.
2. Texts are immediate: it only takes a minute to send a message to thousands of people at once which is great if you need to make up for a slower-than-usual day. 
3. Texts are interactive: customers can respond to your messages which makes it great for asking for feedback or conducting polls.

Here are a few ways that restaurants can use SMS marketing:

• Send text message promotions with limited-time offers
• Inform your customers about weekly specials
• Send reservation text messages
• Send order ready text messages
• Remind customers about upcoming events

Want more ideas? Text "RestaurantWorkz" and follow the promts. 

Summary of Restaurant Mobile Marketing

Smartphones and other mobile devices have changed the way people look for restaurants and order food. More and more people are spending more and more time on their phones. 

If that’s where they are, that’s where you should go. Restaurants have many mobile marketing tools at your disposal including local SEO, online ordering apps, merchandising, and SMS marketing among others. However TextWorkz's restaurant specific software RestaurantWorkz does a lot more. 

Whether you have one location or multiple location, adding even just a few of our text bot features will boost your bottom line during these uncertain Covid-19 times.